Former Florida Senate candidate Jeff Greene said Friday the three-way contest in the Sunshine State is Marco Rubio’s to lose, and urged either Gov. Charlie Crist or Rep. Kendrick Meek to drop out of the race in order for the other to have a realistic shot at stopping the heavily favored Republican.

Speaking by phone from his now infamous boat, Summerwind, in New York’s Hudson River, Greene also told POLITICO that he would be in a much better political position at this point than Meek, who lags in third place with just over two weeks until the election.

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“I think I would’ve done better. I always said [Meek] would have had a difficult time against Charlie Crist in South Florida, which is exactly what’s happened. To me, it was crystal clear that moderate Democrats and conservative Democrats were not going to support Kendrick Meek over Charlie Crist,” he said. “It’s not winnable with two of them running.”

Greene, a billionaire real estate mogul who was pummeled in the Aug. 24 Democratic primary by 27 percentage points, appeared to be at peace with his late decision to jump into the race and unload more than $14 million of his personal fortune into the unsuccessful bid.

But almost two months later, it’s clear Greene is not without grudges, regrets or advice.

While he still plans to cast his ballot for Meek, he said the scenario he’d most like to see is a traditional two-person race.

“They’re splitting the vote,” he said of Meek and Crist. “The best thing is if they would get together and one of them would get out of the race. I’d love to see that happen. Then, just add the numbers together. If they would just get together, it would make a big difference for our country.”

Greene acknowledged that making that happen would be “a difficult thing” for two candidates who have invested so much sweat and treasure.

“With less than three weeks until the election, if somebody objective is looking at who has the best chance of beating Marco Rubio, most people would say, it’s Charlie Crist,” Greene said, noting that if Meek dropped out, the governor “would have a very good chance of becoming the next senator.”

“If Meek drops out of the race, I’ll vote for Charlie Crist,” he said.

Greene’s take comes at a time when Meek’s campaign has already been batting back rumors that he’s on the cusp of leaving the race. Meek has been unequivocal about carrying on and is bringing in former President Bill Clinton for two rallies next week in St. Petersburg and Orlando.

The Meek campaign declined to comment on Greene’s assessment.

Greene said the last time he spoke to Meek was over Labor Day weekend, while he was entertaining New York Gov. David Paterson. But he recalled finishing their conversation without a clear sense of what Meek wanted and was left surprised that his former rival had not apologized for some of the attacks launched in the primary.